Corrupted Little Bird
by AFandomLostInTheEcho
Summary: After finding a small robot in The Cave that had been spying on the team, Robin is captured and placed under a form of mind control, causing the team to wonder if they can ever get Robin back without killing him. Hopefully better then it sounds.
1. A bird in a vent

**Heya! So, here's a new fanfic. I really love YJ, and Robin is hurting my heart. Especially his fricken laugh. I'm not sure how many chapters will be in this one, and if may get facts/spelling/grammar wrong. Please leave a review or a favourite and enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. **

Robin laughed his creepy, infamous laugh, staring gleefully at the television through his domino mask, sitting with his legs crossed on the sofa located in the living room of The Cave. Wally, his best friend and teammate, was sitting a seat apart from him on the grey couch, staring at the television in shock.

"Dude," Wally breathed out, still clutching the video game controller in his tanned hands, "how the_ hell _did you do that?" He demanded, which only caused Robin to laugh harder.

Angrily Wally clicked a button on the remote, which caused the blinking 'ROBIN-WINNER! KF- LOSER! PLAY AGAIN?' On the screen to disappear and become replaced with the main menu. He placed his remote down on the table in front of the couch, having to lean a bit over to reach it, then looked back at Robin, who was still laughing, but slower now. Finally he stopped, pretending to wipe his eyes despite his mask being in the way.

"How did you beat me? Did you cheat? Did you practise before we played?" Wally asked frantically, still shocked. Wally was the _best_ at this game, he had played it for hours and hours on time, and he had thought that he was extremely skilled when it came to virtual racing. But that was before he had thought it would be a good idea to challenge Robin to the game he was supposedly oh so great at.

Robin uncrossed his legs and stood up, dropping his remote back onto the couch and stretching. "No, I didn't cheat, I beat you, fair and square. Maybe you just weren't as good as you thought you were?" He suggested, straightening his back again and smiling slyly at the young speedster.

"You are such a dick," Wally grumbled, "literally." He walked into the kitchen and opened up the fridge, frowning at his choices before snatching an apple and closing the door, moodily taking a large bit out of it. Robin laughed again, turning off the game before joining him in the kitchen. "Seriously, though" Wally said through his apple before swallowing. "How _did_ you beat me? When do you even get the time to play video games?"

Robin shrugged. "Beginners luck? Oh, and I do play video games, on the occasion I'm not doing homework, with the team, or with Bats."

Artemis and Aqualad walked in, covered in sweat and holding towels, obviously having just had returned from the gym. "Hey dweebs, hows it hanging?" Artemis asked in greeting, wiping her forehead with her arm and opening up the fridge herself, fetching her and Aqualad each a bottle of water. Robin smirked. "I beat Wallster in his favourite video game," he told them proudly. Aqualad downed half of his bottle, staring at the two in confusion. "Video game?" He asked, and Artemis held back a chuckle. "They're virtual games you can play on certain system such as the tv that are fun and you can verse people in them and stuff," she explained, and Aqualad nodded slowly. "And... You bested him, Robin?" He asked for confirmation.

Robin nodded and made a small 'yup' sound. He was looking away from the team and at the vent on the wall, as though he could hear something they could not. "Robin?" Aqualad asked suspiciously, putting down his water bottle. Robin waved him off, walking towards the vent, seemingly staring it down before rushing out into the hallway. The team quieted down and followed, trying to hear whatever it was Robin must have been hearing, if he was hearing anything. No unusual sound reached their ears. "Robin," Wally said quietly, staring at the younger boy, who was now inspecting the hallway's walls as he speed walked. What on earth was he doing?

He turned the corner, reaching the next air vent since the kitchen, and stared at it suspiciously. "Robin, what are you doing?" Aqualad questioned, his voice low. Robin turned to his team. "In the kitchen, I saw something red blinking in the air vent, but as soon as I looked at it, it moved off to the left and disappeared from my view. This is the nearest and final vent to the left, so unless it backtracked and went right instead, or it's still in the middle, it would have come here." He told his team quietly. Aqualad, Artemis, and Wally all stared at the vent.

"What, you think something was recording us?" Wally asked, worried. Robin shrugged. "Maybe, but I definitely saw something blinking and then moving out of the way. I don't know, but- there!" Robin cut himself off, pointing at the vent. A small, spider-like creature was staring down at them, a blinking red light plastered to in the centre of the things robot face, like an eye.

Robin grabbed a batarang out from god knows where and chucked it at the creature, the batarang twisting to the side mid-air and fitting through the vents bars. It struck the robot spider and sliced it open, pushing it to the end of the vent where the team couldn't see it anymore.

"Help me up!" Robin demanded, and quickly Wally and Aqualad grabbed onto Robin's legs and hoisted him up to the vent. The boy undid the vents cover and dropped it down on the floor, the case landing with a clank before the boy wonder slithered his way into the vent. Wally and Artemis looked to Aqualad. "Uh, do we follow?" Wally asked, unsure. Kaldur'ahm was about to speak when Robin's feet reappeared at the entrance of the vent and he slid down it and onto the floor, crouching to soften his short fall and shooting back up almost instantly, holding the machine which was impaled by his batarang in one hand.

"Bingo," said Robin, looking the thing over before turning back to his teammates. Just then, Superboy, Wolf, and M'Gann ran up to them; well, Superboy and Wolf ran, M'Gann hovered her way over to them. "Are you guys okay? Superboy heard a..." M'Gann started, but trailed off when she saw the impaled spider-like robot that was laying limp in Robin's hand, no longer bearing a blinking red dot right smack in the centre of its small, metal face. Well, it wasn't really a face, just a circle and a small, now un-glowing dot.

"What... Is that?" Connor asked, walking over to his team and getting a closer look at the machine. Wolf sniffed it before lightly growling and turning away from it.

The machine was small and light in Robin's hand; it was sliver with and orange stripe on its front two pincers, which had extremely sharp points. It had eight legs, like a spider, and a ridged back with small spikes like a child would imagine a dinosaur having. It even had small, sliver strands, like arm hair, sticking out from its tiny body.

"Don't know, but it was watching us talk in the kitchen; who knows how long it was there for," Robin told the now completely present team, minus Zatanna, already walking over to The Cave's research lab.

"You don't think that thing heard you when you said you beat me in my video game, do ya? Because I really don't want that to be a piece of information that leaves this cave," Wally asked, looking to his team with a rather desperate expression. "_That's _what your worried about?" Artemis exclaimed, crossing her arms at the speedster and looking at him with disapproval clear in her voice.

"Well, ya, that's information that could be held against me! It's-"

"Unimportant," Aqualad interrupted, glaring at the speedster before turning to Robin as they walked. "What do you think it is, Robin?" He asked him, and Robin frowned. "Well, it looks like a streamer to me, but I need to dissect it to be sure." He told him as they reached the research lab. Robin placed the thing on one of the silver tables in the room before grabbing his utility belt and opening up one of the slots, pulling out a small camera and a screwdriver.

"A streamer? What's that?" Artemis wondered, hoisting herself onto the table and sitting on the edge as Robin started to take pictures of the creature from different angles.

"Oh, a streamer is something that doesn't record something to the point where the recording device would have to be returned to the owner to watch, but instead instantly sends the footage to whoever wants to see it as the events being recorded are happening live." Robin tried to explain, lifting the thing up again to take a picture of its back.

"So whoever was at the opposite end of the camera could see us taking the thing out?" Superboy asked. "That's the idea," Robin confirmed, "but it might not be a streamer. I have to check how it's programmed in order to tell."

Superboy nodded before noticing a few chairs sitting around a different table. He grabbed two of them with each hand and plopped them down around Robin, sitting down in one and motioning for M'Gann to sit down in the other, who smiled at the gesture before hovering over to the seat. "Robin, would you like a chair for while you work?" She offered, and the boy wonder shook his head. "Na, I don't want to get lazy, plus I probably wouldn't reach the top of this table were I sitting down."

The team, minus Robin, all decided after a minute or two of Robin silently working at opening up the machine after taking out his batarang that they should get comfy; Artemis switched poses on the table, Wally grabbed himself a chair, and Wolf sprawled out at Conner's feet. Aqualad, however, remained standing.

"What I want to know is how that thing managed to get in here." He wondered aloud, and the team looked up, thinking. Even Robin shrugged.

"Not sure, but maybe..." He started, but his screwdriver tapped something inside the creature and caused it to disappear. The whole spider vanished from their view, and Robin stepped back in surprise. "Uh, where did it go?" Wally asked, standing up and joining Robin at the table. He looked at Robin in confusion when he slapped his own forehead, saying "_Oh, _of _course!_" Robin removed the screwdriver and put his hand where the robot was before, but instead of hitting nothing, it landing just above the table, in the exact spot the spider was. "The thing has camouflage! It must have hitched a ride from one of us when we couldn't see it, and it's small enough that if we were wearing enough we wouldn't feel it. Since it's not alive, the Zeta Tubes must have thought it was just an item we were bringing in, rather than an uninvited robot," Robin explained out loud.

The team considered this. "So why _did _it come here? Why spy on us rather than the Justice League or something?" M'Gann wondered. Robin frowned, and the team stayed silent.

ENTER CAPTAIN MARVEL, 1-5

"Should we tell him what's going on?" Artemis asked, and Aqualad nodded. "We may as well. Wally, go find him and bring him here." Wally zoomed off, and the team waited patiently for him to return with Captain Marvel, as Robin continued to tinker with the robot. A few minutes later Wally returned, holding another apple in one hand and followed by Captain Marvel.

"Hey team, how's it hanging? Wally told me you found a mini bot creeping around in the vents. Good job Robin!" The seemingly grown man said cheerfully. Robin rolled his eyes behind the mask at the mans childish behaviour, not looking back at the man and his best friend as they walked into the room. Instead, he gave a final push on the screwdriver as you would push on a chisel, driving the screwdriver carefully through a safe spot in the machine, before twisting the tool back up and separating the things robot head from its robot body.

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed, putting down the screwdriver and lifting up the small circular head, staring into its wiring. "So the thing _was_ streaming us, and it doesn't have any weapons, so there must be... Yep, there's a self destruct button for if it gets caught. So if I hadn't killed it in time, it would have blown itself up so we wouldn't get our hands on it."

Wally nodded. "Smart, but who built the thing?" He asked. "I can't tell. But from the looks of the transmitters and the motions sensors on the bot, it's remote controlled. Meaning finding out who did build this is almost impossible," Robin told them, rushing his hand through his hair. M'Gann raised an eyebrow. "Almost?"

Aqualad stepped closer. "Robin, are you able to find out who send this espionage or not?" Robin sighed. "I don't think so. I mean, I can hack into anything, and I'm extremely good at this stuff, but I'm not even sure we _can _figure it out using this. I mean, whoever built this thing was very careful leaving out anything unique. There's no pattern, and the technology isn't very advanced, so I really can't judge without making a wild guess."

Aqualad put his hand on Robins shoulder, not missing how the boy tensed up at the contact. "You did excellent, Robin. I am sure that whom ever was spying on us will show themselves in time. If there is nothing more you can extract from the bug, then we should head back to the centre of The Cave." A few members of the team nodded, Artemis hopping off the table and the rest rising up from their chairs.

Robin sighed curtly, reluctantly moving away from the robot and following his team back into the centre of the room, leaving the disassembled and powered down espionage bot behind on the table, it's four main legs strapped into the table discreetly by Robin.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

The programmer of the robot spider continued to stare at the blank, static-filled screen, if the word 'stare' was accurate. His work was ruined, thanks to that STUPID little bird. Sighing, the programmer clicked a few keys on the screen, tapping with two skinny, robotic arms. The screen changed from static to the captured footage, reversing what was taken and playing from the beginning again. The programmer heard a grunt from behind.

"Now, now, patience is key, Monsieur. I must access this information carefully, partner. I apologize for the wait, but... I do believe that my mind is... Made up," the programmer spoke with a strong accent.

Another grunt. Footsteps. A creak. Silence.

Silence except for the playing back footage.

One of the robot arms tapped the screen twice, pausing the video. The creature behind the controls zoomed in on one of the members of the Young Justice team.

"This one... Was not my original choice, but a... It seems he IS the ideal one. I did not wish to have to use one so... Young." The accented creature breathed out, studying the boy on the screen. "But I can make this work."

Another creaking sound erupted from the rooms door, followed by another familiar grunt. The programmer turned around to face the large gorilla at the door. "Yes, Monsieur Mallah, I do believe I have made my choice. This boy," The Brain spun back around to face the frozen thirteen-year-old boy with raven black hair on the screen again, and Mallah walked further into the room, "is simply perfect."


	2. You jinxed it

**Heya bunnies! So, this chapter may be a bit hard to follow. Sorry. I wrote this in, like, two sittings, so expect errors in plot and spelling and facts. And yes, I did look up information on the Brain and Mallah in the Wiki, so if anything is wrong... Also SPOILERS but I do know that the Brain can use mind control, in the comics he doesn't like to use it unless it's for persuasion but I made an exception. If you ****_really_**** look to your left, you can see some hidden BirdFlash and some Artemis/Wally. Please leave a review and/or a favourite/follow, or not, you know it's not really my business. It would be nice to know if anybody likes this though. So YA! Enjoy! Disclaimer: I wish I owned these characters, but who am I kidding. **

The team was bored.

_Very _bored.

Batman had stopped by earlier to see if there was anything he could extract from the robot spider that Robin could not, but he couldn't find anything, so he left soon after, taking the spy bot with him. Black Canary had called of fighting practise, fretting that if there were any more streamers in The Cave, they would learn the teams moves.

Zatanna even came by to try and lighten things up when she heard that the team was having trouble entertaining itself. But even with her there, the team was bored.

Robin and Kaldur'ahm kept wondering whether there were any more streamers, but after thoroughly searching the vents via tech and climbing, they had confirmed that there were no more robot spy's.

M'Gann and Conner were currently passing the time by watching Conner's favourite show on the tv; static. Wally and Artemis were arguing about the correct spelling of the word 'colour/color,' Zatanna was talking with Kaldur'ahm, and Robin was tinkering with his computer wrist. The team had changed out of their civvies and were now in their uniforms, in hopes that they would be granted a mission. And like a wish, their hopes came true.

Captain Marvel flew into the room, a look of happiness on his face. "Heya, team! Who's up for a mission?" He asked, and the team looked up, hope lighting up their faces. "Finally! I was beginning to question whether bats was going to ever assign us one or if he forgot," Wally admitted, following and beating the grown man to the mission room, the rest of the team trailing behind eagerly. Robin rolled his eyes behind this mask, but couldn't hide his relief at the idea of a mission.

He still kept wondering what that robot was sent into Mount Justice for. Why not spy on the Justice League? Why them? The bot was obviously sent into the cave for a reason, but what is that?

They all crowded around the holographic screen with Batman's face on it while chatting quietly, the bat waiting patiently for the team to settle themselves out. When he felt that he was able to speak, he began. "Hello, team. There is a fire currently blazing that the fire department needs help putting out, but inside the building has valuable information on its systems that must be salvaged. The fire started approximately two and a half minutes ago, and I called as quickly as I could. I'm sending you the coordinates now." Another ding sounded through the thin screen as the location of the fire was received, and Batman's face disappeared from the screen.

"Okay you guys! Have fun, but be careful!" Captain Marvel said, and before they knew it, the team was off and in the bio ship, arriving at the fire about two minutes after receiving the call.

The team dropped down from the ship and assessed the scene. The fire had almost completely engulfed the building, but the Firemen were spraying the building with water from hoses and slowing down the process. After M'Gann set up a mind link and Aqualad barked out orders, the team separated into teams and began to get to work.

Aqualad went with M'Gann to help put out the fire as Artemis went to help the Firemen; Aqualad made his own water, sending a giant wave of water from himself and the hoses crashing down onto the building, and M'Gann used her powers to help stabilize the building to prevent it from falling. Superboy got to work moving fallen logs and such out of the way for Robin, Wally and Zatanna to get into the building. Wally then zoomed off too see if there were any civilians trapped inside the building, Robin ran over to the large information computer and got to work downloading its information, and Zatanna made water-powered force fields to protect her and Robin as the young boy got to work.

"Come on..." Robin muttered to himself, realizing that the large computer he needed to extract information from before the fire destroyed it was overheating from the fire and making the download take longer. Wally rushed out of the building after finding nobody he needed to save and coughed smoke and soot out of his lungs before heading over to Superboy, who was now trying to move the logs vertically to help hold up the building. When Wally realize he wouldn't be of any help in that area, he went to go help the Firemen put out the weakening fire, but was distracted when he saw a black figure standing atop of the building, seemingly accessing the situation. He couldn't make it out very well due to the heat waves and smoke from the fire, but when he could get a clearer shot of the top of the building, the figure was gone. He shrugged and went to go help the Firemen, _totally _not because Artemis was over there.

Inside the building, Robin typed furiously on his computer wrist, him and Zatanna coughing due to the smoke. "Hurry up, Robin!" Zatanna ushered in the mind link, and Robin practically growled in annoyance. "I know! But something's up with this computer, and I'm not sure if it's from the fire anymore," he told her in the link, his brows furrowing. "The information is barely downloading, almost like the computer has a virus or something in it." Something was up, and Robin had a really bad feeling. He coughed again.

A large, ape-like yowl sounded from behind Robin, and the boy turned to find Zatanna staring in shock at a large gorilla in front of her. The gorilla that Robin recognized to be Mallah, The Brain's partner, raised his large, hairy arms and smashed them down onto Zatanna's force field of water, breaking her spell and sending her falling to the floor. "Zatanna!" Robin screeched out in the mind link, causing the whole team to be aware that something was wrong in the flaming building. Robin snarled at the slow technology on his wrist before taking it off his arm, putting it down on the larger, actual computer to let it continue to download, and lunged at the gorilla as Mallah once again raised his arms to smash the girl who was making an attempt to get up. Despite being extremely small compared to the gorilla, he pushed the animal back with a forceful kick in the chest. Robin was going to land back on his feet and continue to fight the giant ape, but revelled in shocked when the gorilla caught his legs and smashed him into the hot floor.

Robin coughed and spluttered in pain, the smoke in his lungs not at all helping when the air was knocked out of him. Still holding onto Robin's legs, the gorilla pressed a button on his left arm that Robin noticed was covered in a silver material and wires, before Robin felt a shock go up his body and white flashed in his eyes. Then, just like that, he was no longer in the flaming building.

Wally, who had just arrived at the scene moments before Robin and Mallah dispersed, saw Zatanna shoot up from where she was laying down. She tried to cast a spell, but was interrupted by a coughing fit that erupted from her lungs. As she hacked her lungs out, Robin yelped out in pain as a visible shock was sent through him and the giant gorilla Wally recognized as Mallah, and the next thing he knew, they were gone. Wally rushed over to the spot they once were, staring in shock at what was around him.

His best friend and the freaking gorilla that most likely started this fire were now gone. Zatanna was trying to control her coughing, but without her forcefield, she looked as though she was about to faint. The building's fire was not as strong as it once was, but it was still blazing around them, crawling up the sides of the flaking walls and making the floor hot to the touch. Robin's wrist computer was sitting at the computer he was trying to extract information from, still plugged into the computer, the number reading 68%.

Wally helped Zatanna, who was still coughing, out of the building. "Zatanna, are you okay?" Wally asked in the link, and Zatanna waved a hand around randomly. "Ya, just... Give me a second to breathe." She told him, smiling before coughing again.

"What happened?" Wally and Zatanna heard Conner ask in the link.

"I can't feel Robin. He isn't in the link anymore. Guys?" M'Gann said, her thought-voice confused. Wally stared at Zatanna, worry plastered on his face.

"Zatanna, what _happened?_" Wally asked, not caring if it came out sounding kind of rude. Zatanna hung her head for a moment before looking into Wally's eyes.

"He saved my life." She said, still trying to figure out what happened. "He kicked the gorilla off of me after my spell broke and I lost consciousness for a moment, but the gorilla grabbed his legs and then..." She trailed off, and Wally put the pieces together. "He's gone," he said in the link. "That stupid ape took Robin."

Silence.

"We will discuss this further when we get back to the cave. For now, we have a fire to put out. Miss Martian, I need you to continue stabilizing the building. I'm going to send another wave of water down onto the building, which should completely smother the fire. Zatanna, did Robin manage to download all of the information before he..." Aqualad trailed off, and Zatanna shrugged sheepishly, then remembered that they could not see the gesture. "I'm... not sure. He said it was taking a while, almost like it was taking a little _too_ long." She admitted. "Oh, but when he went to fight the gorilla, he took off his computer wrist so it could continue loading," she supplied. Aqualad nodded on the other line of the mind link.

"Wally, go grab his wrist computer quickly if it's not destroyed yet." He told the speedster, and a Wally rushed back into the less-intensely flaming building, returning quickly with the wrist gadget. "It was at 73%, it wouldn't have finished loading in time." He told the team quietly.

Aqualad didn't respond. He threw another wave at the building, which, as he said, completely put out the fire, causing soot to fall in a snow-like matter, and making smoke shoot up extra violently.

Conner, after deeming the building stable enough, let go of the part of the building he was currently holding up. After releasing it, it creaked and stooped down a bit, but did not fall. He ran to go join Aqualad, Artemis, and his girlfriend; Zatanna and Kid Flash were there as well, walking over to them slowly. The team all stared at each other silently, and nobody saying anything in the link or aloud, only Aqualad breaking the silence. "We will get Robin back," he said in the link, his voice low.

"You WHAT?" Batman growled out, his deep voice. The team either shrunk back or flinched at the man's deep voice. "We are so sorry, Batman. This was all my fault. I should have assigned more people to guard Robin while he worked," Kaldur'ahm apologized sincerely, hanging his head low.

"What? Kaldur, this was not at all, in any way, your fault," Artemis tried to assure the teams leader. Kaldur shook his head. "No, it was my fault. This whole mission was a failure. We did not manage to get the necessary information you sent us to save-"

"Robin himself said the something was wrong with the system, almost like it was taking forever on purpose," Zatanna tried to reason with him.

"Robin was taken-" Kaldur'ahm continued.

"You weren't even _there_, you were putting out the fire, which is the only thing that allowed him to work in the first place," Conner interrupted.

"Which was _useless_, last time I checked, and I couldn't even save the building. The burns were too bad; it may need to be demolished." The leader admitted, shooting annoyed glances at his teammates for interrupting. "The mission was a failure, Robin is gone, and we didn't even salvage the one thing we were sent there to salvage."

Batman glared down at the team, his expression unreadable, half because he's Batman and half because his mask covers a good majority of his face.

"Do you have any idea where Robin could have gone?" The bat asked, and the team looked at each other.

"Mallah was there. You know, the gorilla, he's the one who took Robin in the first place. Mallah works for the Brain, and I think they might have started the fire and purposely made the computer take longer to buy them some time," Wally told the Bat, whose 'Batglare,' as Robin had deemed it, was boring into his soul.

"The Brain," Batman repeated, thinking. Then he nodded. "If Robin _is_ with The Brain, then he is most likely going to become a test subject. There must be a reason why The Brain wanted him specifically. What I want you to do is try and figure out where he might be and why he might have wanted Robin." Batman instructed in a dismissive tone, and Aqualad nodded.

"Yes, Batman," he turned away from the screen, beckoning for his team and Captain Marvel, who was listening in quietly, to follow him out the door. "Team," Batman called out, causing the team to freeze and look back at the screen. "Do remember that you did, in fact, fail. Horrendously. I expect better work from you all in the future. And Aqualad, remember that, while what your team does is always your responsibility, it is not your always your fault." The Bat said before disappearing from the screen.

And, with that, the team quietly headed out the room, regrouping in the sitting room to figure out how to get their friend back.

Robin fell hard onto the floor, erupting in a coughing fit from the fire. He felt his legs get released and they too fell to the floor, and he heard a mechanical whir around him, a sound that he could easily compare to a wheelchair.

"Excellent work, Mallah," a voice laced with a heavy accent spoke, and Robin sucked in a breath when he recognized its owner. Robin tried to stand up, but he felt Mallah hold him down, causing the boy to cough again. He still tried to get up anyways, but after getting full- force smashed into the floor, electrocuted by the teleporting device on the gorilla's arm, and still coughing from the fire, he wasn't exactly up to speed. He accessed the situation he had gotten himself into from where he lay pinned on the floor.

He was, obviously, no longer in the flaming building. He was in a rather small looking area; it had very dim lighting and... Pink shelves? Ya, pink fricken shelves surrounded him, stuck to the floor. The walls were a light yellow, and he noticed a sliver proof box against one of the walls.

Wait, what? A proof box? Where am I, Robin wondered, a fricken cupcake shop?

Mallah made a sound that Robin compared to a dying giraffe and practically beamed at the praise he received. "Mallah, cover the boy's mouth, then strap him to the table, please," The Brain instructed, and Mallah gruffed, using his hind legs to shove a gag into the boy wonder's mouth, insuring he could not cry out for help. Robin coughed again, which hurt with the gag on.

"Team?" Robin asked fruitlessly in the mind link, knowing he was going to get no response but trying anyhow.

When Robin felt himself be lifted, he twisted in the gorilla's grip, pushing out and causing the giant ape to drop him. Mallah made an angry OOOH AHHH OOOH AHHHH sound which was so violent loud that it almost made Robin flinch.

"Mallah, quiet!" The Brian scolded, watching as the boy wonder shot up from the floor and flip-jumped out of the way when the gorilla swung a huge paw out at him, and Robin made a break for the exit, wherever the exit was. He twisted his way down a short hall and opened a door which he shut when he realized it was a windowless bathroom. He opened another door across from the bathroom and looked inside. This room had a large oven, a microwave and other cooking equipment. Most importantly, it had no windows or extra doors. He continued down the hall only to realize it was a dead end that lead to a vending machine. A VENDING machine. Where the hell was he?

He jumped onto the vending machine and used it to push himself up to the roof when Mallah came pooring down the hall, ready to smash into him and practically crush him. Instead, due to Robin's jumping out of the way, the gorilla smashed into the vending machine, causing it to fall on the mammal. Mallah gave out a cry, not of pain, but of annoyance, and he tossed the vending Machine at Robin, who just barely dodged, sliding on the floor to avoid the crushing weight of the snack machine.

Robin laughed through his gag. Man, he was captured by _idiots._ He thought The Brain was supposed to be smart, but man, it sure didn't feel that way right now. He hadn't even taken away any of his weapons or knocked him out when he had the chance, which was dumb of them. He was feeling the aster.

Robin jumped up from where he slid and continued to run back into the main room he was in before, only to find The Brain there, blocking the only other exit.

Robin was about to lung for The Brain, aware of Mallah charging at him from behind. "_Be still_" The Brain instructed, his voice sounding somehow different from its usual. Almost... Hypnotic...

For some reason, Robin didn't feel like running anymore.

"Mallah!" The Brain called, and the gorilla, inches from Robin's face, skidded to a halt. He turned to The Brain with a questioning gaze. "Grab the boy and strap him down, my mind control will not last long, it never does," he told Mallah, and the gorilla complied, grabbing the still boy and placing him on the countertop, beginning to take metal straps and cuff them around the boy's arms, legs, head and back. The ends of the straps were stabbed improperly but securely into the table.

By the time the boy was completely secured, he was becoming aware that he had just LET himself be secured. Why hadn't be fought back? He tried to look around and to break free from his restraints, but to no avail. He head was to tightly strapped down, forcing him to look up at the roof, and he couldn't break free, since he was too tightly secured.

He did, however, realize that his weapons were now gone. They must have taken them off of him when he was 'still'. He couldn't feel his utility belt, nor his secret weapons, such as the knives he always kept in a pocket in his sleeves. He tried to call out, but forgot he was gagged, causing a muffled 'let me go' to roll off of his tongue. He heard a chuckle from somewhere next to him.

"Excellent. My dear Robin, I apologize in behalf for this. I should have given you chloroform before I gagged you, but I do need you conscious for this. I also do not have my proper surgical tools with me like I did last time, so the best I can do for you is give you some morphine. Oh well. I normally do not harm children like this, but... I feel it would be fun to try something new, no?" The Brain asked himself, and Robin heard Mallah make an ape-like snort.

"So, Robin, Mallah... Let's have us some fun," The Brain proposed, and out of the corner of his eye, Robin saw Mallah grab a small insertion knife and a large, familiar black ring that made Robin realize why he was there.


	3. If possessed is the correct term

**Hi guys! So so so sorry for the long wait. I'm horrible at keeping stuff updated. Seriously. But I have been writing other stuff that I may or may not publish. I don't really like this chapter, though. Idk, was it silly? I hope not. This is pretty short though. Sorry again. PLEASE leave a review/fav/follow if you want to, I would really appreciate it. **

"If you were an insane brain whose best friend was a high IQ'd chimpanzee, where would you go to possibly experiment on Batman's protégé?"

The team either sighed, groaned, or stayed silent. "Wally," Artemis started, "if you are going to continue to ask the same question repeatedly aloud when it is clear you are not going to get any new or different answers, then please, at _least_ rephrase the question once and a while."

Wally lifted up his head from where he had it rested on his arms on the table, his expression conflicted and worried. "Well if you want me to shut up, the maybe you guys to try to help me figure this _out,_" he snapped, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms.

Artemis scoffed. "Wally, we've been at this for _hours._ He is literally no place logical. Batman and the whole league are looking for him in their own ways. Batman is even trying to figure out if he can track The Brain or Robin. Right now, we can't really do anything. We've already patrolled ourselves, so unless YOU, not us, but YOU have got a better idea, then were all just gonna be stuck here, worrying about Robin yet not being able to do anything," she yelled, fed up with the speedster. She knew he was just really worried for his best friend, but he was acting like he was the only one who cared about Robin.

He was wrong.

"Artemis is right, Wally." Aqualad told the stressed teen. "It has been over four hours since Robin was taken. There is really nothi-"

"Hello, M'Gann!" Miss Martian cried out, rising into the air and bopping herself upside the head. "The mind link!"

The team stared at her, expression blank.

"Come again?" Zatanna asked.

"THE MIND LINK!" She pressed. "Robin was taken while the mind link was in effect. Because of the teleporter on Mallah's arm, Robin was moved out of range, so I couldn't hear his thought process anymore. We already know that since the teleport on Mallah's arm was not an actual, proper teleporter, that they could not have traveled very far, meaning Robin is most likely still in Metropolis or Gotham, or anything in between. Robin can't be that far away, but he went out of range of the link because of the teleport."

The team stared at her. "Ya, we know. So what?" Conner asked bluntly.

M'Gann rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Well, it's a long shot, but... I never actually turned off our established mind link before. I left it open just in case, even though I knew it wouldn't do us any good. BUT, if the link is still open, and Robin is still out of that link and just out of range..."

"Then if we got back _into_ range with Robin, he would be able to hear us in the mind link and we would find him," Zatanna pieced together, and M'Gann nodded.

"Exactly. Well, the link isn't exactly a tracking device, but if I could feel Robin in the link again or hear him, then it would defiantly be a guide."

Silence.

"M'Gann, that's brilliant," Conner praised. M'Gann blushed. "Well, it's a long shot, but it's worth a shot," she told them.

"It certainly is," Kaldur'ahm told her with a smile, getting up from his spot on the couch and motioning for his teammates to copy him. "Let's go to the bio ship and see what we can do. Miss Martian, do you think you will be able to sense Robin in the link from inside the bio ship, or does this need to be done by foot?" The team leader asked.

"Oh, the ship will be fine, so long as we're not up to high. Camouflage mode will take care of that," She told him, and Kaldur'ahm nodded. "Very well. We will start with Star City."

And, with that, the team departed, leaving behind a small sticky-note on the kitchen countertop for either Black Canary, Red Tornado, or Captain Marvel to find when they got back from their own tasks. On the note read, 'GONE TO FIND ROBIN ~YJ' in Zatanna's hand writing.

An hour an a half later, M'Gann felt something. "Wait," she breathed aloud, letting go of the two white shears that control the ship. The bio ship hovered, invisible and frozen, near a small building allotment in Metropolis, Smallville.

"What is it?" Zatanna asked the bio ship's pilot, who was concentrating on her surroundings. "I can feel Robin, but... Something's wrong..." She said, still concentrating.

"What do you mean?" Wally dared to ask, worry evident in his voice. M'Gann shook her head. "I don't know. It's just... I can feel Robin, but... I don't know, it just doesn't_ feel_ like its Robin. Maybe he's unconscious?"

Kaldur'ahm thought for a second. "Do you think this may be a trap?" He asked the Martian, who shrugged in turn.

"Well, which building is he in, can you tell?" Artemis wondered, and M'Gann concentrated again. "I... Don't know. He is around here, I can feel it, but that's really all I can feel."

The team frowned at her but said nothing.

"Let's land the ship somewhere and then come back here to try and look for Robin," Kaldur'ahm suggested, and M'Gann nodded. She turned the ship away from the allotment to land the ship further off, memorizing the path they had to take to get back to Robin. As she turned the ship away, she felt Robin's presence slowly disappear. M'Gann knew that something was very wrong with their little bird. Maybe he was just unconscious? That could always leave a weird feeling in the mind. M'Gann subconsciously shook her head at the thought, knowing that what she was feeling was not just an unconscious human. If Robin was unconscious, something else was wrong with him that M'Gann couldn't name.

All she knew was that when she felt Robin back in the mind link, she also felt waves of unnatural anger and darkness coming off of the boy.

TWO HOURS EARLIER

Robin blinked his eyes open hazily. Oh god, his head hurt. What the _hell_.

After stirring for a few moments, Robin tried to stand, but was unsuccessful. The metal head, arms, legs and chest straps were off of him, but his head was hurting to much. Slowly, he tried to just sit up. He managed, but he felt like he was going to puke.

Desperate to not make a sound, Robin tried to grab his forehead out of reflex, but his arms didn't make it there. He looked at his wrists. They didn't have the straps on them anymore, but they were restrained by chains, just as his ankles were. Robin froze when the chains let off a rattling noise.

Faintly, he heard that horrible wheelchair noise in the distance, and The Brain rolled his way into the yellow room that he was in. "Bonjour, Le Robin. Tell me, how do you feel?" The Brain asked, and Robin could have sworn he detected mockery in his voice. Robin felt the urge to spit at the pink, mechanized brain, but he knew that his head was in to much pain. So was his neck actually, and a great part of his back. His neck felt cold, as though someone was holding an icepack to it.

The Brain wheeled closer. "We gave as much morphine as we had, dear child. After all, we did not wish for you to die _just _yet, no?" He said. The Brain spun around. "Mallah! Our guest has... Awoken," he said, his voice sounding much more sinister then Robin thought was possible with that accent.

A few moments later, the black, hunkering gorilla jumped into the room, stripped of his mobile-teleport. He let out an ape noise, pounding on his chest before calming himself and sitting down next to his partner. Robin noticed it holding a small device in one of his back feet.

"Now, Mallah... The remote," The Brain instructed, and Mallah grunted, using his front paws to lift his body so he could hold out the 'remote.'

_Remote to what? _Robin felt himself thinking.

"Now, Robin... I feel as though if would only be humane to tell you what's going to happen, no?" Said The Brain, wheeling even closer to the raven haired boy who was discreetly testing out his restraints for weak spots behind his back. "You see, when I activate your collar-" The Brain started, but Robin interrupted him. "Collar?"

Robin froze, trying to look down at his neck. He obviously didn't succeed, his view only reaching his collarbone, but when he looked down, the cold feeling on his neck grew and he felt a sharp sting all throughout his neck, as though he was wearing something. _What the __**hell?**_

The Brain chuckled. "Yes, do you remember le inhibitor collars I put on those, poor, innocent animals back in Northern India? Well, I managed to remake one despite having lost my tools, and I made it with some... _Alterations._ Instead of converting animals, it converts humans. Pushes the normal consciousness to the back of the mind and replaces it with a new one completely, a better one. Do you see where I'm going with this, my boy?" He asked, and Robin closed his eyes. He did see where The Brain was going. However, he said nothing, causing The Brain to continue.

"Well, I have placed the human collar on and in you, but it has not yet been activated. As soon as it is activated, there is no deactivation button or switch. And before you get any ideas, if the inhibitor collar is broken or removed... It self implodes electrically, consuming anything around it. In other words, it's a bomb. Nonetheless, it will not come off, seeing as it is programmed INTO you, not just resting on your neck. The wires have been cut and spliced into your skin, therefore even if the bomb was ineffective, you would still die. Well, not _you_, necessarily." The Brain monologged.

Robin, who gave up trying to get out of his restraints, narrowed his eyes at The Brain through his mask.

"What do you mean?" He asked, and Mallah let out a snorting noise, causing Robin and The Brain to divert their attention to the gorilla. "Yes, your right Mallah. The sooner the better," said The Brain before using his mechanical arms to hold up the remote again. "We'd better get this done, no? Mallah, if you would please mute the boy." Mallah once again grabbed a gag and wrapped it around Robin's head, despite the young boy's efforts to kick or punch the gorilla away, but his restraints prevented him from even moving away.

Then, once Mallah had moved out of the way, The Brain pressed some buttons on the remote before pulling up a small lever on the remote, causing something in the collar to make a ticking noise before sending out violent shocks. Robin screamed inside of his gag, inwardly cursing himself for being so weak. Then he couldn't even think. His head hurt so bad, and he felt frozen despite the fact that he was convulsing in pain.

Then, after what felt like hours, and what was actually an hour and a half, the pain subsided, leaving him with a sense of anger. He didn't know why he was angry, but he did know who he was angry at. He was going to kill whoever did this to him. He was going to kill the people that he felt he NEEDED to kill in order to survive like that is what he was destined to do. He was no longer in himself; he felt new. STRONGER.

He was going to kill his 'team.'

PRESENT

When the bio ship was parked, the team rushed back to the allotment M'Gann sensed Robin in, and the Martian felt a sense of dread when they arrived at the series of innocent looking mini-stores. What she felt in the mind link... It was Robin, yes, but... Was it really? It had felt so... Dark. So angry.

They tried the first store in the allotment, but after searching the store and the back rooms after telling the store owner they worked for the league and proving it by having Kaldur do something cool with his water benders, they found nothing. They repeated the action three times before they came to a cupcake shop.

Cautiously, they entered the innocent-looking building, taking in their surroundings. The store had lovely yellow walls with pink shelves and a vast cupcake selection inside a glass window in the main countertop.

"Hello?" Conner called out, and when no response was given, the team armed and readied themselves; Artemis took out an arrow and latched it onto her bow expertly; Kaldur took out his water benders and charged them up; Zatanna had her hands open as though she was ready to chant a spell; Superboy and Kid Flash were making fists in anticipation; M'Gann stared, unmoving, at the empty hallway turnoff that was giving her a senses the sense of dread. She gulped. _'He's here,'_ she said in the mind link._ 'But something's not right.'_

Together, the team cautiously waded into the hall; Kaldur made a 'split up' motion, and the team went in their normal pairings, minus Robin. Zatanna went with M'Gann and Kaldur, and Conner went with Artemis and Wally. Wally had deemed his, Artemis' and Conner's' team to be 'Team Blender,' and while he normally called Kaldur and M'Gann's team 'Team Beach Ball,' and Robin and Zatanna's team 'Team Banana's.'

However since Robin was not present, Wally improvised the way he always did whenever Zatanna wasn't allowed on another mission with them for the time being(not likely now that her father was being possessed by Dr. Fate); 'Team Banana's' and 'Team Beach Ball' blended together (pun intended) and created 'Team Banana Ball.'

My point being that Team Banana Ball went down the left corridor and Team Blender went down the right.

Team Blender (Wally, Artemis and Conner) walked slowly down their short hallway. They opened up each door along they way, finding nothing interesting in any of them. The found a dented vending machine at the start of the hallway, almost at though it had been thrown from the end.

Other then that, they found nothing, and started to head over to Team Banana Ball, unaware of the small acrobat watching them from inside the roof tiles, peering down at then through a small crack in the roof, and the Gorilla and brain preparing their escape.

They had need more time, but Robin's team just _had_ to show up. The Brain knew that, thanks to his expert work, Robin wanted to kill his team. However, that was not the reason he had rewired Robin; it was but a perk. He needed his original work to be finished before he could chance losing his weapon, but it seemed that might not be an option anymore. This ceiling was not going to hold Mallah, or The Brain for that matter, for very long.

Team Banana Ball (Zatanna, Kaldur, and M'Gann) were opening doors as well, also having very little luck. Then Zatanna scowled in annoyance. "There's nothing here," she observed, annoyed. "Keep an open mind," said Kaldur wisely, quoting his missing bird. He hoped Robin was alright. He was a valuable member of the team and a good friend. "Sure would be nice if we could prove he was here though," Zatanna mumbled, then her head shot up. "That's it! Security cameras! Does this store have any?" She asked, and M'Gann and Kaldur looked around in the corners of the room. Kaldur and M'Gann shook their heads at her.

"_Wal- ugh, Team Blender, do you see any video cameras?_" M'Gann asked in the mind link, silently cursing Wally for once again making them use team names.

"_Uh, we'll go back to the last hall and check,"_ Conner said in the link, and Team Blender headed back to the hallway with the broken vending machine.

"_Um, nothing here. What cupcake shop needs security cameras anyways?_" reported Wally, followed by a light smacking sound, then a girly "_Ow! Artemis, that hurt! Why do you alway have to hit ME? Why not Conner? Or even-"_

"_Wally, you idiot, look at the wall. There's a hole, meaning there was a video camera there before, but it's been removed. Meaning were in the right place,_" Artemis said in the link, and Wally rubbed his head in agitation. "Still didn't have to hit me," he murmured outside of the link, and Conner rolled his eyes.

The boy wonder continued to watch from inside the ceiling, eyes narrowed, fuming for seemingly no reason. "Can I kill them?" The little bird asked, tearing his eyes away from the opening and looking at his new, better team, consisting of him, The Brain, and Mallah.

"I don't see any other way we're getting out of here. We didn't have enough time. I cannot even teleport us out; Mallah took his teleport off, and mine could damage your collar." The Brain, explained quietly, and Robin narrowed his eyes.

"Is that a yes?"

Back with Team Banana Ball, they too had noticed the small holes in the occasional corner that signified a missing security camera.

"_So what now? There's nobody here. No Brain, no gorilla, no Robin._" Conner asked in the mind link, and M'Gann fumed at his bluntness, fighting not to say anything.

_"Keep looking, there must be something,_" Kaldur instructed, and the teams continued looking for clues.

Robin, still in the ceiling, stealthily grabbed a handful of batarangs out from his utility belt before slowly and quietly lifting up one of the ceilings unsteady panels and moving it slightly out of the way, keeping himself hidden whilst giving himself a clear shot at his first target; his best friend, Wally. He poised himself to throw the batarangs and aimed at the red-head. Then he threw one, aimed perfectly at the speedster, and it would have impaled itself into the red-heads neck had it not been for Superboy jumping in the way.

Before Robin threw the batarang, Conner noticed something move out of the corner of his eye and saw one of the ceiling panels moved out it in an in-orderly fashion; it was not like that a moment before. Then he saw something black streak over to Wally and he jumped in the way, knowing the weapon would not hurt him. He noticed the weapon that had stabbed lightly into him was a batarang before it exploded, pushing him back a bit but otherwise not affecting him.

"Conner!" Artemis yelled, and she looked up to the ceiling, aiming her bow, trying to see where the weapon had come from, but Robin had already moved the tile back into its place and had moved to a different spot in the ceiling. Robin, excited, let out his infamous giggle, which echoed throughout the whole entire building despite him being in the ceiling.

"Robin," Wally breathed out, shocked that it was his best friend that had tried to kill him, putting two and two together and realizing that Conner had saved his life. His life shouldn't have been needing saving, especially from his best friend. Then he realized.

"_Robin's in the roof, but it's not Robin!_" Wally said into the mind link frantically. "_The Brain must have done something to him, but it's him, just not him, okay?"_

"_Um,_" he heard M'Gann say, but Wally didn't bother trying to clarify; he turned to Conner, who was standing there as though nothing happened, yet tense from the news he had just received. "SB, can you hear Robin at all?" He asked, and Conner concentrated for a moment before shaking his head, confused. "No. He must be holding his breath and staying still of something. I hear a heartbeat, though. Actually... I hear two sets of hearts."

Team Banana Ball ran over to Team Blender, and Kaldur shouted into the ceiling, "Robin! Let us help you! We're your friends!"

Nothing. Then a popping sound and a crash as about four tiles toppled to the floor, followed by The Boy Wonder. Robin stood up from the rubble and stared at his 'team.'

"Sorry, but Robin's not home right now. Well, actually he is, he's just not allowed to come to the door," sneered Robin-But-Not-Robin. It was then that the team noticed he was wearing an inhibitor collar. "Rob," Wally started cautiously, walking slowly over to his best friend. "Rob, we're best buds. Are you still in there, somewhere?" He asked, his voice slightly pleading. Robin smirked before throwing another batarang behind him, the batarang slicing the arrow Artemis had discreetly pointed towards him in half. "That's not very nice. Were having a _conversation_ over here," Not-Robin said in a pouty tone, before his eyes seemed to light up behind his mask.

"Oh ya! I gotta tell you guys something before I kill you. This collar," Robin pointed to his neck, "has a bomb in it. Any kind of stabbing, tinkering or removing done to the collar will result in a new verse in ring around the Rosie," Robin laughed that goddamn laugh again. "ASHES, ASHES..." He sung before jumping into the air, throwing two more batarangs, one at each mini team, before grabbing his grappling hook out from his pocket mid air and shooting it at the ceiling mid-air. The hook stabbed through the roof and the boy was swung away from the team as the batarangs beeped and released a knock-out gas, Robin at a safe enough distance to not be affected.

Then a chanting in a different language sounded out, and the smoke disapated, revealing Zatanna with her arms out, absorbing the smoke into small little balls in her palms. "Impressive," The Boy Wonder chimed out from the other side of the room, "didn't know you could do that."

"Neither could I," said Zatanna before chucking the smoke balls at Robin, who dodged them effectively and held his breath as the smoke reappeared near him. Robin jumped onto the counter top, and Wally charged at him, only

to cry out in pain and fall to the floor in spasms when Robin quickly pulled out a high-voltage and highly dangerous taser. He electrocuted his 'best friend' but couldn't take in the satisfaction of watching Wally spasm when a burst of water shot at Robin, and he had to hold his breath again as it slammed him off the countertop and towards the yellow wall. However, when he should have hit the wall, he kicked out with his legs and jumped over the sprout of water, landing at Aqualad's face before punching him in the nose. Robin dodged an arrow from Artemis, flipping out of the way but away from Kaldur, and cursed himself when he realized that that was the arrows' intention in the first place.

Robin scowled at air and threw a handful of detonation batarangs at Artemis, who dodged two but felt the explosion from the third one, the force pushing her back and sending her tumbling to the ground, clutching her ears.

Just then, Superboy tackled Robin, sending the two of them crashing to the floor. Robin yelped in pain at Conner's weight, hissing out, "God, what do you eat?"

He tried to kick the krypton off of him, but was effectively held down by his super strength. He heard Zatanna chant a spell, and suddenly there were ropes tying him up until he could not move. Not-Robin, admitting defeat, which is something their Robin would never have done, stopped struggling, letting out another psychotic giggle.

"Wow, team. I'm so proud of you. And to think that you would be too late to save your friend..." Not-Robin sighed dramatically, putting on an obvious fake-sadness.

"What do you mean?" Asked M'Gann, afraid to hear the answer. Not-Robin smirked.

"Well, you see, M'Gann... I'm still Robin. I'm still the rich little orphan brat-of-the-bat that you people know yet don't really know," He told the team, who was staring at him in confusion, minus Wally, who had stopped convulsing and was being helped to stand by Artemis, his eyes wide as he silently prayed Robin didn't give away his secret identity. "You've probably noticed, but I'm wearing an inhibitor collar. It's making me the way I am right now, and I'm actually liking the new me. So you take it off, and London bridge comes falling down. I'll let you put the rest together. Master will be mad if I give everything away to you dweebs."

"You shut up and tell us how to get this collar off," Wally growled, his gaze so angry that it took the team by surprise. "Now, Wally, that's no way to talk to your best bud." Robin sneered, before letting out a sinister giggle.

The team stared at Robin, either very confused, shocked, or angry. M'Gann even had tears in her eyes. "How do we get him back if we can't take the collar off?" Asked Zatanna hesitantly. The team looked down. Nobody answered her.

"Let's get back to Mount Justice. M'Gann, call the bio ship." Aqualad ordered, his eyes not leaving Robin. Silently, M'Gann did as told, and they all piled into the now-arrived bio ship, Aqualad and Wally restraining Robin and guiding him into the ship. "You know, I could have escaped by now if I wanted too." The acrobat told them with a sneer.

'_Should we really take him back to the cave?' _M'Gann questioned in the mind link. _"We're not. We will get to the ship to contact the cave we will await orders from them,"_ Aqualad explained, and Robin laughed. "You guys DO know that I'm still in the mind link, right? I can hear you," He giggled.


	4. Not a villain but not a hero

** So... Hey guys... Long time no read, huh? Heh... I'm so so sorry for the wait it's just I've been so stressed for exams in a few weeks and home life has been a bit hectic and I know that's a shitty ass excuse but I'm still so sorry and I wish I could promise that it won't happen again but hey let's take a look at my life choices for a minute and realize that that's a lie.**

** In this fic, I need you to know that when I talk about the room inside of a room, I mean what you see on those crime shows, just a bit more plain yet metal. Okay? I hope that makes sense... Also I barely looked this over so sorry for errors ;.; I'm a terrible person... But hey I'm working on my life and my other fics and stuff too so yay for progress... Yay... Oh and if you don't know Robins past do not fret I will hopefully explain next chapter so please review and fav and follow and stuff or not whatever's cool sorry again k bye**

**EDIT: okay so I got a review about a person not liking birdflash (I accidentally deleted three different reviews, including this one while trying to moderate it ;.; I'm sorry Regality and others) and I have to say that this is NOT a birdflash fic I do ship it but they will NOT get together in this okay they are jut best friends **

The bio ship landed at the regular platform in Mount Justice. The team had received orders from Batman telling them to return, and that the league would be there in case of an emergency. Batman, The Flash and Superman were waiting there for them, as well as Black Canary and Red Tornado.

The team exited the ship in a sluggish manner, Aqualad and Kid Flash still restraining the tied-up and murderous looking Robin.

The first thing the league noticed was the collar on his neck. It was tight on the boy's neck, and since it was programmed into him, it was causing the veins around his neck to pop out and a red skin infiltration surrounded the collar.

He was still wearing his costume, but he was stripped of his utility belt.

"Hello, Robin," Batman said with a glare at his ward, his face devoid of emotion.

"Heya, Bats. Got any food left? I mean, I know this place has food, but with Kid here and all..." Robin smirked with a shrug.

Batman narrowed his eyes before gesturing for Aqualad and Kid Flash to follow him with Robin, which they did after sharing glances with the team. Superboy also followed them, but put up a hand to stop the other league members from following him.

When they were out of sight, the only person at the drop zone who spoke up was Superboy, asking a question the young hero's all had on their minds but didn't want to discuss. "So... Robin's an orphan?"

Batman lead the others to a small yet very secure interrogation room the young hero's were not permitted to enter otherwise. The room was large, and had another 'mini-room' built inside of it. The smaller room was meant for interrogations, and the walls had large amounts of impenetrable glass coating it. From inside the smaller room, you could not see the outer room, but from the outer room you could see everything inside of the smaller room, such as the long brown tabled stuck to the floor with two plain chairs also stuck to the floor surrounding it.

Batman strapped his wards' hands into the interrogation table inside of the questioning room using strong metal cuffs, then did the same to his legs, just to the floor and against the chair, and then removed Zatanna's rope. The table and the chair were both embedded into the floor, making escape even harder. Even he was surprised when his protégé didn't try and fight him off.

Wally and Kaldur explained everything what happened at the bakery. Batman and Superman listened intently, occasionally asking questions, and the boys told the story in relatively good detail.

Batman then looked back to Superman, Kid Flash, and Aqualad.

"Who wants to talk to him first," Batman asked, but it didn't sound like a question. More like an order. The three boys looked at each other before Kaldur nodded at Wally, who then slowly raised up his hand. Batman nodded at him and then he, Kaldur, and Superman all watched the interrogation from a different part of the room that was behind a glass screen, allowing them to see Dick and Wally, but refuting them from seeing the others.

Wally stayed where he stood for a moment longer before seating himself in a chair across from Robin on the other side of the table. He opened his mouth to say something, but Robin interrupted him.

"You know, you could use a breath mint."

Instantly, Wally closed his mouth, and he glared worriedly at the boy. His Robin was never mean.

"Robin," Wally started, but he turned his head slightly when he spoke so that his breath didn't go in Robin's face. "What happened to you? After Mallah took you?"

Robin scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Ya, I would. That's why I asked."

"I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?" Robin asked innocently and blinked sweetly behind his mask.

"What happened to you?" Wally repeated.

"I had a midlife crisis and decided that I didn't want to be a hero anymore," Robin said, and Wally rolled his eyes, but then he stared at his best friend with a sad expression.

"Robin, what did they do to you?" He asked again. Robin stared at him with a smirk.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe me. I started a band, called 'a Brain, a Bird, and a Primate.' Then I climbed Mount Everest and joined the circus. Again."

"_Robin_."

"No, no, I'm being serious! You know, I actually am quite the guitarist."

Wally stood up in frustration, groaning, and left the questioning room. He glared at the others. "Your turn," he told Aqualad, who looked rueful. Kaldur started to reach for the door when Batman put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"You don't know about Robin's past. Chances are, he is going to use that against you. You may ask him questions if you wish, but remember; he isn't Robin anymore. He will lie. Be prepared." He told Aqualad, who suddenly felt small, but he gulped and entered the room anyhow. Robin didn't look up as he entered, just smirked as he stared at the table. Aqualad took a seat and stared at the little bird in front of him.

"Hello, Robin," Aqualad greeted cautiously.

"Hello, fishtaco. Hey, shouldn't you be in school?" Robin asked, then stared to laugh. "Get it?" He exclaimed through his almost forced-sounding laughter. "'Cause your like a fish."

Kaldur didn't get it, but he narrowed his eyes anyhow. "Robin, you are not currently in your usual state. You are not Robin right now. You have to tell me how to bring our Robin back to us," the team leader ordered, and Robin stopped laughing and started to smirk again.

"Kaldur, I don't think you understand. I _am_ Robin. I always will be Robin._ Me_. Not that pathetic, know-it-all baby bird who wouldn't even kill the man who ruined his whole life," Robin told him, leaning over the table. "There are no other Robins. Just me. Well, for now anyways. I assume that when I die or whatever big 'ol daddy bats is gonna pick a new bird off the shelf labeled 'children in need.'"

Kaldur stared at Robin in shock. "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously.

Robin stared evenly at the Atlantian. "About what?"

"The man who ruined.. Your... Life," Kaldur rephrased, but he really didn't want to say 'your.' This boy would never be Robin. Robin was trapped inside of himself.

"Sure you're ready? 'Cause I'm not certain that bats'll be to enthused if you hear the tale of how I killed my parents." Robin said absently, playing with his fingernails.

Kaldur stared at the boy, his mouth slightly agape and his eyebrows scrunched in horror at even the thought of Robin doing something so vile, but then he remembered that Batman said that Robin would probably use his past against Kaldur and lie. He also realized that he was straying off topic, which was probably Robin's intention.

"Robin, that is a lie and you know it. Tell me h-"

"Actuallllllly, it's not a lie. I could have told my parents that there was somebody that didn't belong tampering with the lines, but I hesitated, and I ran out of time. I could have saved them, but I didn't want to bother them, so now they are dead and let's face it," Robin leaned further into the table, his eyes, despite being covered by his domino mask, boring into Aqualad's soul, "it's all my fault they died. I killed them."

Robin held Kaldur's gaze for a moment longer before leaning back and singing, "no one could outrun the crash... It was all reduced to rubble, and then again to ash..." And then he laughed. Like a psychopath.

Kaldur didn't recognize the song, but he didn't care. Was what Robin was saying true? Did Robin, _his_ Robin, not the boy in front of him, really feel that way, or was he just lying?

Did Robin really blame himself for his parents' death? What did he mean by lines?

"Tell me how to remove the collar without killing Robin," Kaldur ordered, his voice barely above a whisper. Robin made a fake-sympathy face.

"Aw, come on, Kaldy, you can do better than that." Robin encouraged mockingly.

"_Robin_."

"Look, I'm not telling you jack-squat, and if you can't accept that, send bats in here to_ interrogate_ me. After all, I've seen him make loads of villains spill their secrets. Let's see how he does with his own protégé," Robin explained with a bored expression on his face. Though it was kind of hard to tell with his domino mask covering his face.

Kaldur studied the boy's face before standing up and leaving the room without a glance back at the boy. Outside, the others were all staring, not at Kaldur, but at the windows where inside Robin sat, currently looking down at the chains on his feet and smirking scarily.

"Are you-"

"Yes," Batman interrupted Superman, who had just spoken.

Wally and Kaldur looked down awkwardly, but Superman held the bats' gaze.

"Good luck, then. Remember, he's-"

"I know." Batman said, and with that he pulled open the door and seated himself across from Robin.

Neither of the bats spoke for at least a full 30 seconds.

"You're wrong."

Robin looked up. When the bat did not continue, Robin waved his hands around to the extent the chains on his wrists would allow. "Care to elaborate?"

Batman continued to glare at his ward, his eyes now narrowed. "It wasn't your fault."

Robin held his mentors' gaze. "Was it not?" He asked. "Funny. I seem to remember going to juvy afterwards."

"For a completely different reason, Robin. You were not to blame, and you were not weak for letting Tony live. You were strong. You could have killed him, but you didn't. That is not weakness." Batman told his ward.

Robin didn't respond, just looked away. Silence overtook the room, and it was Batman that finally broke the silence. "How do we get the collar off?"

Robin smiled a big, greedy smile. "The question of the hour. Actually, I think it's been about and hour and a half now. Go for two?"

Batman didn't respond, but he did think about that. It had been about an hour since the team brought Robin back now, and it was probably close to an hour and a half now. Time flies when your watching your adopted son be replaced by someone who isn't.

"You know, I am kind of hungry. I mean, I've gone without food for longer, but still. Think you can spare me an apple?" The boy wonder asked.

Batman leaned slightly into the table. "Why did you choose to fight, back in the bakery?" He asked, and Robin put on a look of confusion. To the naked eye, the confused expression would be believable, but Batman saw past the façade.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked innocently.

"I mean, you probably could have stayed in the roof. Why leave it? Why attack? Even you must have known that you couldn't take them all on at once. You're good, Robin, but not good enough, especially when your movements are not your own." Batman deduced, his expression remaining unreadable even as he spoke.

Robin shrugged and leaned further back into his chair, crossing his arms as best as he could with his cuffs. "I had to be a distraction, else Master wouldn't have gotten away. And look, they all fell for it, so in the end I did the right thing even if I did get captured. It's not like you can get this collar off, so it's all just one big, useless effort on your part." The little bird explained.

Batman narrowed his eyes. His Robin barely ever talked for that long. And Master?

"Is that what they took you for? A distraction?"

"No, I was gunna be for something else. I don't know what, 'cause we didn't get that far," Robin said, his voice snide. Batman glared down his ward.

"Who's your Master?"

"Like you don't know."

"I want to hear it from you."

"Fine, but I'm only telling you this 'cause I'm getting kind of bored, and there is no chance you didn't already know. It's the Brain. He's great. I mean, he's a fricken brain. Called the Brain. How cool is that?" Robin laughed again.

Batman was quiet for a bit, staring at the boy in front of him, unblinking. Robin did the exact same. Batman did know it was the Brain already. The collars were so obviously of his design.

"How do we remove the collar?"

"Through _magic_," Robin replied sarcastically. Batman's head perked up a bit with an idea.

"We have magic."

Robin paused. "Oh ya. Zatanna. You know, she's so replaceable I actually forgot about her."

Batman stood up and left the room without a comment. He turned to face the others.

"Do you think that will work?" Superman asked, and Batman looked back at his son.

"We have to try. I can have the members of Star Labs inspect the collar to look for any visible detonators, and then we will see if Zatanna's magic can work. We'll test it on other things before Robin, perhaps a duplicate of the collar should we be able to build one, but I think she may be our best shot for now. When I was in there, I got a better look at the collar, and there is no way it can be surgically removed without it killing him, nor just plain old removed. The cords are _inside_ of him, meaning it will take time and effort to remove them without any casualties, but I don't think it will be impossible." Batman explained.

Inside of the containment, Robin had started singing again. "Where once was light, now darkness falls... Where once was love, love is no more..."

Robin turned to face the glass, staring into Batman's eyes even when he couldn't see them.

"Don't say goodbye... Don't say I didn't try..."

"M-me? But... I don't think my magic is strong enough for this sort of a thing. I mean, what if I hurt him? What if I _kill_ him?" Zatanna fretted after hearing Batman's proposal.

Kaldur put a soothing hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do not worry, Zatanna. We will give you time to practise, and we trust that you will do this job well. But we have no other appearing options, and we need to get that collar off of Robin without setting off its detonators."

Zatanna looked conflicted for another long moment before looking to the floor and nodding, looking up once again. "Then I will do what I can."

Kaldur looked back to Batman, who was standing next to Superman, his normal, stoic expression plastered onto his face, beneath and over his cowl. Kid Flash had remained in the larger part of the room where Robin was being held as so to guard him. Artemis, Batman, Superboy and the others were all in the main room.

"Then it is settled. Flash will instruct Kid Flash to release a knock-out fume into the interrogation room where Robin is, allowing us the chance to get a better look at the inhibitor collar. Flash, were going to need you to call in some of the members at Star Labs to help take a look at the collar so that we may replicate it as accurately as possible without it being dangerous for Zatanna to work with." At this, Flash nodded and zipped out of the room. He returned moments later, only pausing for a moment to salute before dashing out to Star Labs.

"What can we do to help?" Asked M'Gann, and the other young hero's nodded their approval of the question.

"It would be best for you all to stay here. Me and some of the other Justice League members are going to search for The Brain," Batman told them, walking toward the Zeta Tubes. "Black Canary, you stay here incase Robin breaks out. We don't know what's he's capable right now."

Black Canary nodded, watching as Batman, Superman and Red Tornado walked into the Zeta beams and headed into the Watch Tower.

When they were gone, Artemis let out an outraged cry. "Ugh! They won't be able to find The Brain with his teleportation devices, will they? This is just great!" She growled, pacing.

"Artemis, they are doing what they can. We just have to hope for the best," Black Canary explained, and Artemis scoffed, sitting down on the edge of the floor and resting her face in her hands, her elbows pressed into her knees.

The team sat like that for a while, bickering amongst themselves and offering others words of comfort. Eventually The Flash returned with six members of Star Labs, and they and the team headed to the viewing part of the interrogation room. The Flash didn't follow them, instead meeting the other members of the Justice League at the Watch Tower. They found Wally sitting at a table in the corner of the room, perched on the edge.

Nobody greeted Wally as they entered; they simply looked at him and gave him a nod or a smile. Wally never returned the simple greetings, just watched with an almost solemn look in his eyes. The team noticed that Robin was unconscious, meaning Kid Flash had successfully released the fumes into the interrogation room.

The team didn't know if they should feel happy or sad about that.

The team also didn't know how to feel when they watched Black Canary remove Robin's utility belt and other weapons to be safe. They watched her withdraw hidden knives and batarangs from his uniform, taking away all of his weapons and leaving him with just his suit and mask. The members of Star Labs then proceeded to walk into the room, tilting their slumped over friend's head around to get a look at the inhibitor collar, some drawing what they saw, others taking notes and pointing things out. One was even taking pictures. What made matters worse was that Black Canary was leaned over them, helping point things out and studying the collar carefully.

It made the team feel sick.

Black Canary noticed a knife she forgot to remove sticking out from Robin's left shoe. She bent down to grab it, removing it from the inside of the shoe and bending upwards. She didn't realize that the only reason she noticed that pocketknife was because Robin had purposefully allowed it to slid from its hiding spot by subtly twitching his foot; a trick not even batman knew.

Still straightening her back, she didn't notice that Robin's eyes were open. In an instant, Robin head-butted her, causing her to drop the knife at his feet and the members of Star Labs to scurry away and jump back in shock. Black Canary fell to the floor, her face colliding with the steel table on the way down and rendering her unconscious. The team jumped on their feet, figuratively or literally, and ran towards the door.

_Too late,_ Robin thought. He, almost like it was a soccer ball, lifted the pocketknife with his feet and bounced it high into he air. Using his free hands, (he had skillfully used the knife in his glove sleeve to undo his handcuffs from his wrists and the table while Wally was watching him, that stupid ape not noticing it. Well, it make it fair for him, Robin was considerably sly, even if he couldn't see if Wally was watching or not. He easily slid the knife back into his sleeve for Black Canary to have removed later) he caught the knife at the handle, speedily reaching down to his feet and undoing his right foot's cuff.

By then, the Star Labs members had realized that shit was going to go down, and they piled out of the room, making it harder for the team to enter and buying Robin more time.

Robin was now on his left foot, his right foot now being completely free, and when the team had entered the interrogation room, he was completely free.

It was Kid Flash that got to him first, his speed giving him that advantage, but Robin was ready. He jumped up, flipping in the air as he did so, and landed on the table, dodging Kid Flash entirely and causing him to trip over Black Canary's unconscious form, slamming him into the wall.

Without a moments hesitation, Robin was in the air again, this time landing on Kaldur's face. Kaldur had had his weapons out, ready to shoot water at him, but Robin's foot colliding with his face put a damper on his plans, instead sending him crashing to the floor with a groan. Artemis was the next into the room and Superboy following, him blocking the entrance and Artemis pointing three arrows at Robin. Robin_ just _managed to dodge them, sliding down onto the floor with one leg out straight and the other bent, sliding right in between Superboy's legs and making it to the larger, viewing part of the room.

Should Robin have had his weapons then, he would stealthily dropped two or three detonation batarangs down and watched Artemis get blown up, but that was not the case here. Instead, he quickly got up from the floor and dashed over to M'Gann, who was blocking the exit into the hall, using his legs to kick her off of her feet before she could levitate him and stop him from fighting right then and there.

He then reached his arms up to stab her with his knife when he was slammed backwards by an unearthly force. He saw Zatanna (why didn't he notice her before? Wow, the collar sure was making him be out of it) and quickly got off the floor, ignoring the pain in his chest, and slammed into her. The two of them fell to the floor, but Zatanna kicked Robin in the face and pushed him away, giving Robin the chance to tumble-roll away from her and back to M'Gann, who was pushing herself back up.

He also noticed Superboy charging at him, so he quickly drove the pocketknife into her back, removing it quickly before getting, once again, ferociously tackled and slammed into the wall. Even with the force Superboy was using, Robin was aware of the fact that no afterwards punching was Conner's equivalent of 'going easy.'

He heard M'Gann screech in pain and felt Conner loosen his grip slightly as he turned his head towards M'Gann. Taking his chance, he brought his knees up to his chest and pushed his feet out, tossing Superboy off of him in a moment of shock and surprise. Whether he was shocked because of hearing M'Gann cry out in pain or because Robin managed to dislodge him, Robin didn't know.

He felt arrows imbed into his cape as he tried to turn away and his cape was pulled back; he hissed as he quickly undid his cape and left it hanging in the wall. "I _liked_ that cape," he growled as he dodged more arrows, these ones exploding behind him as he realized that Artemis must be getting annoyed to start using explosives against him, running into the hallway.

He felt Kid Flash smash into him and send him crashing into the wall with an "augh!"

He crumpled to the floor, panting. He felt Kid Flash's eyes on him, staring at him with pity yet rearing his leg back to deliver a kick that would for sure knock him out.

Robin dodged Wally's kick and pushed his extended leg up as he forced himself to stand up, causing Wally to crash back-first into the floor. Robin quickly scrambled over his body and took a quick corner to avoid any more arrows. There was a scream in the distance, probably coming from M'Gann, but Robin didn't care.

He ran down the hallway, not stopping until he reached the control panel he needed. He pressed some buttons on his glove and projected out his wrist computer, quickly plugging it into the control panel. He typed in a short code and pressed upload before Wally crashed into him.

Robin was getting really sick of this crap.

Wally punched him in the face and Robin replayed the favour by kicking him in the crotch. Sadly, this was where Robin's journey ended. Robin didn't know where it came from, but Wally managed to punch his lights out, sending him slumping to the floor where only darkness greeted him.

Wally also seemed a bit shocked that he actually managed to knock out his friend, but he quickly shrugged it off when he heard a faint _ping_ come from behind him. He turned around to find Robin's glove with the wrist computer built in sitting on the floor, a cord that was being held Robin-knows-where attached to the panel in the wall, the holographic computer from the glove flashing with the words _UPLOAD COMPLETE_.

Whatever it was Robin was trying to do, Wally realized as Kaldur, Artemis, and Zatanna caught up with him, Superboy Staying with M'Gann, it wasn't escape.

"So this is why Robin barely fought to escape when we brought him in. He _wanted_ to be here. This was all a setup," he deduced, staring down at the unoccupied glove. He switched his gaze to Robin's unconscious body.

"Well, what was he trying to do?" Zatanna asked, lost. Artemis knelt down and picked up the glove. "He uploaded something. The control panels around the cave all are wired into each other and the mountain. Whatever he uploaded may affect the whole mountain. So what did he upload?"

Wally sighed, still staring at his friend. "I feel like we're gonna find out soon enough."


End file.
